Edit: his front brake failure explains perfectly why he couldn't do a track stand and had to leave the 2nd position to Cancellara on the velodrome...

Not really. You don't need the frontbrake to do a trackstand.

You don't need the frontbrake, okay, but look a minute at 4.02 in the movie: http://cyclocosm.comYou need a lot of handiness + a working brake to maneuver exactly the way you want on a velodrome (or a fixie), and SVM could have done better with two working brakes. Now he kind of gave up on the idea of holding balance with only a rear brake, and he moved down the velodrome. I guess nobody likes to ride just behind another rider on the track when lacking brake power.

It's funny dj, I only ever read you lambasting Gerrans for being " a wheel-sucking leech" but never praising Fabian for his tactical nonce in pulling 2 other riders all the way to the line...one without the other, strange.

Especially when it was widely appreciated Fabian needed to race smarter.

Could it be that the former rode the smarter finale than the latter? That he was still better than all but one other rider at staying with Fabian off the Poggio and no other rider (read: sprinter) seems to cop the same treatment notwithstanding.

Spare us the constant soapboxing, please.

Cancellara had to pull or they both would have gotten nothing: the gap simply wasn't enough for any hesitation.

From Google:wheel sucker A derogatory term, referring to a rider who always sits in and never expends any energy by taking a pull at the front..nencycling.org/wiki/cycling_vocabulary

I highlight the relevant word. I didn't invent the assertion that riders have a responsibility to contribute something to the success of a break.

The term wheelsucker should only be used with reference to a rider whose MO is that every time. Leipheimer is one who comes to mind, Gerrans isn't.

I agree with dj. In this case Gerrans was a wheelsucker. It paid off as Cancellara towed him to the line.Gerrans was fortunate that Nibali was there because it meant that Oss and Sagan in the chasing group didn't contribute.But that's a different story as Nibali didn't do anything either.

Cancellara can drop / distance people easier on pave and the bergs as has been seen recently. Credit to SVM who made it a great race. Asking why he didn't track stand at the end of 250+ Km is a bit much!

yal are crazy. By that definition anyone being led out by a sprint train is a wheel sucker. Probably even worse than what gerrans is being called because sprint trains are planned out days in advanced.

No riders are the same and all riders are going to race to their strengths. If your goal is trade 100% time trial hay makers side by side with cancellara then you better be on his level for the type of efforts he's making. If you are a punchy sprinter and you've now found yourself on the wheel of such man, you certainly do not have the engine and staying put is sometimes the only* thing you can do. Gerran's SRM data doesn't lie, and staying on fabian's wheel was not a walk in the park. Two riders can be at their 100% limit, and still that has no implication that by 'specialty' or 'the type of rider', rider B (behind) can come over the top in a sprint.

Maybe it's a noble gesture to 'earn respect in the peloton', but explaining that do a director 'well i could have won , but i wanted fabian's respect.... so i made pulled through 10 times and rotated in the paceline' probably wont cut it. Sports are a business , riders are paid to perform, and riders have a livelyhood to earn/maintain.

3 faces here, none of which are sucking wheels.

An anecdote for a hard group ride. I followed a friend's attack who has a big motor, who put me in the danger zone despite drafting him..... i couldn't (not didn't) pull to the front for feeling of a heart attack, but sure enough when the sprint point atop the hill was in sight, we both opened it up and i came around to pip him barely. This is real life.

yal are crazy. By that definition anyone being led out by a sprint train is a wheel sucker. Probably even worse than what gerrans is being called because sprint trains are planned out days in advanced.

I think you're going off at a tangent with that!

nathanong87 wrote:

3 faces here, none of which are sucking wheels.

I agree at that point it was "full gas" to get and stay on Cancellara's wheel during his attack up the Poggio.

I'm talking about the run-in to the finish where you'd expect the breakaway riders to all contribute in some way to maximise it's chances of success.

I'm talking about the run-in to the finish where you'd expect the breakaway riders to all contribute in some way to maximise it's chances of success.

What makes you come to that conclusion? Most of the finishes I've seen the pacing work wasn't shared fairly, and certainly even less so the more riders were involved, and the closer the finish line came.

I agree at that point it was "full gas" to get and stay on Cancellara's wheel during his attack up the Poggio.

IMO, at that point, Cancellara just joined the two man breakaway, and stepped on the gas to keep the pace up, and maybe accelerate things. It was Nibali, a few seconds earlier that did the brutal attack an put out the biggest sustained effort...yet. 3 guys with 3 strategies in mind. Gerrans , clever and strong at that point. Clever at the end.

Louis

Last edited by LouisN on Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Any perspectives on contenders for the De Brabantse Pijl - La Flèche Brabançonne? It's tomorrow, y'all. Or for a few of you on this site... tonight...

Will BMC or Sky have any wears to show for their classics teams?Will Sagan come back from his mini vacation and come up with another salute across the line?Will Voeckler manage to stay away for those last 30m to get to the line first?Will some smaller team show up and prove their merit on a grand-er stage?

An anecdote for a hard group ride. I followed a friend's attack who has a big motor, who put me in the danger zone despite drafting him..... i couldn't (not didn't) pull to the front for feeling of a heart attack, but sure enough when the sprint point atop the hill was in sight, we both opened it up and i came around to pip him barely. This is real life.

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